Jay Carney juggles the ‘redistribution’ questions and attacks by the GOP

The White House called Republicans’ efforts to charge President Barack Obama as a supporter of “redistribution” as a “desperate effort” of a campaign looking to regain its footing.

Obama laughs as Jay Carney is added as the new press secretary, Robert Gibbs is the subject of the joke photo/Pete Souza

White House press secretary Jay Carney said there was little damaging about a video edited circulated by Republicans and the Romney campaign which purportedly features Obama, then a state senator, speaking about “redistribution.”

“All of us who follow politics and policy… have seen circumstances like this where a campaign is having a very bad day or a very bad week. And in circumstances like that, there are efforts made — sometimes desperate efforts made — to change the subject,” Carney said during the daily White House briefing.

In the video, Obama is heard to say, “the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution – because I actually believe in some redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody’s got a shot.”

In 2008 Obama told donors that people in rural, middle America “ they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion.”

Carney said in an interview in 2008 that Obama’s remarks show that he is “urban and urbane” and not particularly well connected to small town America.

But that was 2008, and yesterday after being asked about his column, he claimed that he didn’t remember it, ad declined a reporter’s offer to read it to him.

Carney dismissed any comparison to Obama’s remarks and those of Mitt Romney, who told donors several months ago that he was unlikely to get the support of the 47 percent of Americans who consider themselves victims and rely on the government for support.

“I think the president, then candidate, addressed this at the time. This was four years ago. I think the broader point was that his message there and everyone in 2008, and going back to 2004 and every day since has been consistent.”

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Brandon Jones - Writer and Co-Founder of The Global Dispatch, Brandon has been covering news for Examiner, starting and writing for several different websites including the diverse blognews site Desk of Brian.
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